Wroten, Anderson step up to lift Sixers in OT win

The Rockets’ Jeremy Lin tries to dribble despite the defense of the Sixers’ Tony Wroten during their game Wednesday, a 123-117 overtime win for the host 76ers. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

PHILADELPHIA — Tony Wroten was told an hour before tipoff that he’d be starting for the 76ers. Yet somehow he played like a guy who had all afternoon to prepare for the first start of his NBA career.

Then, inexplicably, Wroten passed the baton — and the ball — to James Anderson.

Anderson knocked down a game-tying, off-balance 3-pointer, off a pass from Wroten in an attempt to save a ball bound for the first row, with 6.6 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. Spencer Hawes’ putback dunk on an Evan Turner miss with 29.8 seconds to go in overtime gave the Sixers the lead for good and sent Houston packing, 123-117, Wednesday night at Wells Fargo Center.

And it almost never happened.

“Out of the timeout, I told (Anderson), ‘I’m going to come off the screen and hit you in the corner,’” Wroten said. “They were denying him, so he wasn’t open. I kept probing and I ran out of options. He was hot, so I threw it up to him and we were fortunate enough for him to make it.”

So Wroten peeled off and ended up under the rim, where he somehow found Anderson with a pass that set up a straight-on look at a 3-pointer.

“Tony already had told me he was going to look for me and I was kind of in the wrong spot,” Anderson said. “But somehow he still found me and I was fortunate enough to get a shot off and fortunate it went in.”

Wroten and Anderson were unstoppable for the (still) first-place Sixers (5-4), who snapped a two-game skid just in time for a three-game road trip that begins Friday in Atlanta.

Wroten, who corralled a rebound in overtime to lock up his first career triple-double, ended up with 18 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds. Anderson was equally on fire, totaling a career-best 36 points on 12-for-16 shooting, including 6-for-8 from 3-point range. They were two of six Sixers to reach double figures in scoring.

Surprised by Wroten’s and Anderson’s ability to take over? No, said Sixers coach Brett Brown.

Surprised by his team’s winning record through nine games?

“Yes,” Brown said candidly. “Yes I am.”

Jeremy Lin, who went scoreless in the fourth quarter for Houston, did his best to rescue the Rockets in overtime after blowing a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter. Lin knocked down a 3-pointer that temporarily put Houston in front with 1:30 to go in overtime. Lin went 10-for-19 overall and 9-for-15 from 3-point range, establishing a career mark for made 3s, and totaling 34 points in the process.

That made no difference for the Sixers, who made 11 of their final 12 free throws in overtime to complete the rally. They held Houston without a field goal for a seven-minute stretch from the end of the fourth quarter and into the extra session, inducing 10 consecutive misses.

Anderson seemed like he couldn’t miss, a valuable skill for a team that was missing one of its top players. Michael Carter-Williams was a late scratch due to the same left foot arch bruise that kept him from practice a day earlier. Brown said he knew the rookie point guard, who’s considered day to day, wasn’t a go around 5 p.m., after consultation with team doctors.

Wroten took Carter-Williams’ place and didn’t miss a beat. Neither did Anderson.

“To see different ways where he scored tonight,” Brown said, beaming. “You see guys, (and) when opportunity presents itself and it sort of collides with their age, he’s ready to break out. He’s ready to assume the role of a starting 2-guard or a 2-guard with significant minutes in rotations. We got him at a very timely stage of his career where he can let all of this things come together.”

Anderson was pivotal in keeping alive the hopes of the Sixers, who committed seven fourth-quarter turnovers. The fourth-year guard knocked down a 3-pointer a few ticks shy of the 2:30 mark, Thaddeus Young found the bottom of the bucket on a turnaround hook and the Sixers clawed to within one point, at 102-101, with 120 seconds to go. That was their first lead in the fourth quarter, and erased Houston’s 10-point lead in the quarter.

Of course, Wroten’s heroics late — and in general — should not be understated, either.